Trial begins for Pottstown man accused of assaulting police officer

NORRISTOWN — A Pottstown man was “belligerent and argumentative” and assaulted and injured a police officer who tried to question him about a reported domestic disturbance at his home, police testified during the man’s trial.

“He was immediately belligerent and argumentative. He was loud and he was aggressive,” borough Police Officer Matthew Green testified as the assault trial of Erik D. Deger got under way in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday.

Green testified he was the first officer to arrive at Deger’s home in the 1300 block of South Street at about 5:42 p.m. May 1, 2011, to investigate a neighbor’s 911 call reporting a “physical domestic” incident outside Deger’s home.

Green testified Deger was in his yard when Green arrived and refused to give police his name and blocked his path when he tried to check on the status of a woman who was observed at the residence. Green testified the right side of the woman’s face appeared red and she was holding her hand to her face.

Advertisement

Green, testifying for Assistant District Attorney Cara McMenamin, said Deger, who had an odor of alcohol on his breath, became increasingly combative and that when he tried to take Deger into custody for disorderly conduct Deger resisted arrest.

“He began fighting. He started flailing his arms,” Green testified, adding the men scuffled until two other borough officers arrived and assisted with taking Deger into custody.

Green testified he suffered injuries to his hand and knees during the fight.

“It was a tense situation and I was feeling threatened from you,” Green told Deger, who is representing himself at trial and cross-examined Green.

Deger appeared to question how Green, at 6-feet 2-inches tall and weighing about 220 pounds, could have felt threatened by the actions and demeanor of the much slighter Deger.

“Big cops die just like small cops,” Green told Deger.

But Deger implied he was the one who was assaulted by police and he showed the jury photos of scrapes, bruises and cuts he sustained during the fight. Deger argued to the jury that the altercation occurred not at his hands but at the hands of police and that authorities were “twisting” the events.

Deger’s neighbor testified for prosecutors that she called 911 after her two daughters frantically alerted her to a man allegedly punching a woman in the yard next door.

“He was punching the daylights, repeatedly. She was screaming and crying. She needed help,” the neighbor testified, adding Deger was combative with police when they arrived on the scene to investigate her 911 call.

Jurors appeared riveted as McMenamin played a recording of the neighbor’s 911 call.

Deger, while cross-examining his neighbor, asked the woman if she witnessed him punch the woman, who testimony revealed was Deger’s girlfriend at the time.

“You were enraged that’s why I had to call police. It was very disturbing. You punched her. It was frightening,” the neighbor responded to Deger.

However, Deger’s first witness, his former girlfriend, testified she was watering her vegetable garden at the home when she realized police had arrived. The woman, of Spring City, testified Deger never punched her and she could not explain why a neighbor called 911 to report a domestic disturbance.

The woman claimed Deger cooperated with police when they arrived at the home and that she was “startled” when she observed Green get aggressive with Deger, punching Deger in the face, placing him in a chokehold and throwing him into a flower bed. The woman claimed Deger was not fighting back.

“My boyfriend was being assaulted for no reason by a police officer,” the woman, appearing emotionless, claimed as she answered Deger’s questions.

Under cross-examination by McMenamin, the woman testified she and Deger have been “separated” since June.

The trial before Judge Wendy Demchick-Alloy will resume on Wednesday.

Deger, 27, faces charges of simple assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in connection with his alleged conduct with police. If he’s convicted of all the charges at trial, Deger faces a possible maximum sentence of 2-to-4 ½ years in prison. Deger does not face any domestic-related charges.

About the Author

Carl Hessler Jr. writes about crime and justice at the Montgomery County Courthouse for The Mercury and 21st Century Media Newspaper’s Greater Philadelphia area publications. A native of Reading, he studied at Penn State University and Kutztown University before graduating from Alvernia University with a degree in communications. He is a recipient of a National Headliner Award and has been honored for his writing by the Keystone Press Association, Philadelphia Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania. Reach the author at chessler@pottsmerc.com
or follow Carl on Twitter: @MontcoCourtNews.